The Freedom to Achieve

I rise on behalf of the ACT Party
and the people of Epsom to support the Statement from the
Prime Minister.

Over the summer break I have been
out-and-about talking to New Zealanders - taking
stock.

New Zealanders are working harder and longer for
less.

What they want is the freedom to achieve though
their own effort and enterprise.

They don’t want hand
outs - most reject the entitlement society.

They back the
Prime Minister. They rate John Key.

They don’t see
Labour, the Greens and Winston First – the coalition of
the Dispirited, the Deluded and the Bewildered - as an
alternative Government.

They don’t see David Shearer as
a Prime Minister, even less Russel Norman as Finance
Minster.

I tell them that under MMP it could happen. They
tell me to work hard to make sure it doesn’t.

I will
be.

The ACT Party and the people of Epsom back John Key as
Prime Minister. But we want him to do more to resist and
roll back the entitlement society.

We want this Government
to expand the freedom to achieve.

What Labour promises in
hands-on-government is a government of hand outs - the
sapping culture of entitlement.

In Labour’s world to get
ahead is to put your hand in the pocket of the
taxpayer.

It is not about the freedom to achieve through
the enterprise of your efforts. It’s about taking from
someone else’s hard work.

Take housing.

Young
Aucklanders want to buy or build a home with a back yard.
Yet the median house price in Auckland is now almost seven
times the median household income.

Auckland is almost as
unaffordable as London.

We know that housing
unaffordability is complex. However the major culprit is
central and local government – the RMA, metropolitan urban
limits and building regulation.

What’s the Opposition
response?

Labour promises to build government houses to
fix a problem largely created by government. No word on
where the money will come from to build ten thousand houses
a year. Mr Shearer promised $300,000 dollar homes. Now
he’s backtracked and said $300,000 is just the median
value. In Auckland they will be chicken coops.

On Sunday,
Mr Shearer told the country that he is going to hold a
conference this year to work out his policy. That’s after
he has announced it. Not good enough.

Labour have shown
they are not serious. They have not uttered one word on RMA
reform.

Here is my prediction; they will vote against
every major RMA reform this year that will help young New
Zealanders get their first home without a government
handout.

Now the Greens won’t be outdone in the auction
of make-believe money.

For them the Government will not
only build the house but loan you the money to buy it. What
they won’t say is how many houses or how much it will
cost.

What we do know is that you can’t have a backyard
for the kids to play in and the RMA can’t be
touched.

After promising make believe houses with
make-believe money, the next day the Greens attacked the
dairy industry that helps New Zealand earn its way in the
real world and pays the taxes they are so keen on
spending.

For them wealth is created by the printing press
- not by working hard, taking risks, selling things other
people want and saving.

This year we need major RMA
reform.

I have told the Government we have a one-in-twenty
year chance to get it right and get it done.

We need to be
bold. ACT will be helping.

In other areas, the Government
is moving towards giving New Zealanders the freedom to
achieve and away from the policies of handouts and the
politics of entitlement that the Opposition are keen
on.

ACT wants National to pick up the pace.

Here are
three examples.

Partnership Schools are about the freedom
to achieve for talented educators, dedicated parents, and
for kids who need a break. It gives educators another option
in our education system, a system that currently sees almost
one in five students missing out.

We will have a Bill
providing for regulatory standards around increased
disclosure for Government Bills. This will help New
Zealanders better gauge whether any reduction of their
freedom is justified.

ACT’s Spending Cap will help New
Zealanders better understand how much politicians spend and
how good that spending is. Politicians will have to signal
their spending plans in advance.

These initiatives and
others will help get government off the backs and out of the
pockets of New Zealanders.

ACT wants the Government to
keep moving towards the freedom to achieve and away from the
culture of entitlement that saps independence.

We reject
Mr Shearer’s hands-on government of hand outs.

We know
anything is possible however humble your origins, if you
simply give New Zealanders the freedom to
achieve.

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